Agility in the context of banking doesn’t mean just speed in execution; it also means that the bank is nimble and flexible. Agility helps the bank to win a marathon, as opposed to a hundred meter dash.

1. Agile Banking – Managing the
Challenge of Change
Universal Banking Solution System Integration Consulting Business Process Outsourcing

2. Business Agility tap new and emerging platforms and channels
like Social Media, which can be used to crowd
Business agility is the ability of a business to source the development of products that can
adapt rapidly and cost efficiently in response to cater to the needs of a particular segment.
changes in the business environment. Business
agility can be attained by maintaining and Time Agility defines the speed with which a bank
adapting goods and services to meet customer can roll out new products and services to take
demands, adjusting to the changes in a care of the varying needs of customers. For a
business environment and taking advantage of bank to be time agile, the processes and systems
human resources. that underlie operations should be capable of
handling the frequent changes in the bank’s
Agility in Banking offerings. The use of state-of-the-art banking
solutions will enable the bank to turn around
Agility in the context of banking doesn’t mean newer products quickly and manage diverse
just speed in execution; it also means that the products and services as time progresses.
bank is nimble and flexible. Agility helps the
bank to win a marathon, as opposed to a Challenge of Change
hundred meter dash.
Hence, an agile bank is one that is on the move
A bank, which is agile, will be able to roll out and constantly undergoing change. An agile
new products at a much more rapid pace to bank will also have a large number of alliances
meet the target of treating each customer as a with partners who contribute to various parts of
segment of one. This rapid product development the product and service offering. The way the
and rollout can be managed only if the bank is change is managed will determine whether
backed by a clear process strategy to handle the bank succeeds at increasing customer
product complexity and accompanying growth. satisfaction and profitability or ends up with a
This combination of product and process in large number of offerings that add to the chaos,
an agile bank is expected to increase the but not to customer satisfaction.
quality of customer experience, which can be
benchmarked using a metric of growth combined Some of the key steps on the journey towards
with stickiness. By growth, we mean that a agility, which will help in managing the challenge
bank is able to attract new customers as well of change, are as follows:
as more business from existing customers.
Identify the Change Driver
High stickiness means low customer attrition.
The need for agility in a bank can arise from a
Hence, agility helps a bank to streamline its
change driver. This change driver can be internal
process such that it can roll out newer products
or external. External change drivers arise from
at a rapid pace to increase the quality of
factors over which the bank has almost no
customer experience, and thereby retain existing
control, like a reduction in margin because of a
customers and attract new ones.
hike in interest rates, or an increased regulatory
Types of Agility compliance burden on account of heightened
Central Bank norms. Internal change drivers
Agility can be classified in two ways. A bank can can arise from factors such as merger and
be either Range Agile or Time Agile. acquisition or a reduction in workforce. The
driver of agility needs to be identified and
Range Agility defines the ability of the bank to communicated clearly within the bank and to
broaden or shrink specific aspects of its all its stakeholders.
capabilities. This also implies that the bank is
able to increase or decrease the portfolio of Identify the Agility Enablers
its products and services. This can happen by
simultaneously expanding or shrinking the After identifying the change drivers, the bank
bank’s processes and the capabilities of its needs to identify the agility enablers against
people. A range agile bank will also be able to each. The current and target states need to be
Agile Banking – Managing the
Challenge of Change

3. identified for each of these drivers as well as Effective Decision Making
the enablers that will take the bank to its
target. For instance, the loss of customers due An agile bank, working in a dynamic business
to the unavailability of mobile banking, can be environment, needs to respond to change to
a change driver. The agility enabler in this case tap growth opportunities. The effectiveness of
could be the adoption of a new technology decision-making will determine the quality of
solution for Mobile Banking. Another driver the response. The performance metrics and data
could be the need to reduce the waiting time relevant to the bank need to be extracted and
at the teller window. The agility enabler in this presented within the shortest possible lead time
case could be service automation through an for agile decision making. The best-in-class
ATM or kiosk, supported by IT infrastructure at IT solutions for banks come with their own
the backend. analytics solutions, capable of generating the
data required for analysis, at a click. If there
Strategy Formulation and People Management are multiple enterprise systems and multiple
subsidiaries operating within the bank, it is worth
The top management of the bank needs to exploring an Enterprise Decision Dashboard
identify the strategy for each of these enablers (EDD). An EDD will have the data extraction
and communicate the same to the unit or and presentation capabilities to take the output
department concerned. In each unit, a core team from multiple systems and present it to the
must be formed to manage the transition, as decision makers.
well as communicate with the people within.
More often, the strategy formulated by the bank Review and Monitoring
must encompass the change in its technology
A steering committee consisting of the CXOs of
landscape. The bank might replace the legacy
the bank needs to be formed, and charged
systems with the latest Banking system to cover
with conducting periodic review and directing
its end to end operations. This might necessitate
course correction if required, in the journey
developing the skills of the bank’s employees.
towards agility. Under the steering committee, a
Hence, every strategy formulated to reach the
core team comprising members from each
target state of an agility enabler must consider
concerned SBU or department must be formed
the people dimension, especially from the
that will drive and monitor the progress made in
standpoint of minimizing chaos.
their respective departments.
Effective Business Process Management Conclusion
The business processes needs to be clearly The journey towards making a bank agile
documented; in the case of an agile bank, involves changes, which affect its people,
Business Process Management (BPM) needs processes and products. This is accompanied
to be constantly updated, preferably by the by a change in its technology landscape to
people who carry out the business processes. facilitate rapid innovation and transformation.
The business rules, constraints, processes and These changes needs to be carefully calibrated
policies need to be documented as part of BPM. and managed so that the bank’s existing
The generation of business process maps is not customers do not feel any adverse impact and
a one-time activity and will constantly undergo the bank also attains a larger market share
change as the bank changes its products and and higher customer satisfaction at the end of
processes to become more range agile. Hence, the journey.
it is prudent to identify the owners for each
business process, who will be responsible for References
keeping the process documentation up to 1. ‘Agile Banking: Leverage the Integrated
date. An enterprise BPM solution will help the Banking Platform’, Rajashekara V. Maiya
bank in managing business processes and
also making them accessible to all their 2. ‘IT agility: striking the right balance’, Kishore
respective stakeholders. Sengupta and Andrea Masini
Agile Banking – Managing the
Challenge of Change

4. 3. ‘Strategic Agility Planning for Banks’, Prashant 6. ‘Benchmarks of agility at banks’, Rajashekara
Gupta and Prashant Tewari V. Maiya
4. ‘Towards Enterprise Agility through Effective
Decision Making’ by Sriram Anand and
Author
Jai Ganesh
Kartik Ramadas
5. ‘Business Process Management: Facilitating
Consultant - Finacle
Enterprise Agility’ by Akash Saurav Das,
Infosys Limited
Sandeep Gaikwad and Vivek Raut
Agile Banking – Managing the
Challenge of Change